Genealogy - Research Tips

This has now become an increasingly popular past time, with many people now wanting to discover their roots and explore their family history and hopefully find out their descendant’s pasts, where they lived, what their occupations were, and what life was like during their lifetimes. Which in most parts was in a completely different kind of world, than the one we live in today.

It is also worth noting that this kind of research can proved to be very helpful in searching and validating any information which is found on our paranormal investigations. But where to look and how to go about it, is the question.

Firstly it is worth pointing out that it wasn’t till 1st July 1837 that it became law under the government’s act of parliament, that the General Register Office was established, and by law that everyone was required to register a birth, marriage or death, prior to this it was left up to the parishes to record any baptisms, marriages or deaths in their parish records, these were normally kept within the church and entries made by the vicar or priest. So depending how efficient they were would be the accuracy of the records. During the reign of Henry VIII most of records were kept within the monasteries, but during their destruction, many records were destroyed.

Today the main General Register Office is based in Kew in London, here is stored all information for every person living in England, plus all census records.

It is open to the general public, but if you do decide to visit it might be worth checking if you need to book an appointment or the opening times.

If you don’t want to travel to London, you will find a local county records office in your part of the country, here they will store records for your area normally on microfiche. You will need to ring and book a time slot, and there is normally a small fee to gain entry, also most of these now have a photocopier so for a small fee you can take a copy of what ever you want and take away with you for your records.

It is also possible now to access public records on line, but at a price, you can either join on an annual basis, with the cost around £70.00 for the year, with access to all records, or a pay as you view method, where you tend to get access to 10 or so viewings for a nominal fee. Listed below are two very good sites which I would recommend.

http://www.ancestry.com/

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm

To get started it is worth checking with family, the names of grandparents, and great grandparents and the area they lived, (one good source is a family bible as names and dates were often written down in here), also marriage certificates can prove to have the important information you will require. If you don’t have a marriage certificate but know the names and the date of the marriage you can apply to your local register office, and for around £6.00 they will then forward you a duplicate copy of the certificate. It is important to try and get as much information as possible, as there is a 100 year ruling on information that is released to the public, so you need to get back this far too then use the public records.

So once you have got this far back, you then will be able to start your search, the records offices have a wealth of information and records to help you, here are a few of the things that will help you in your search

Census Records, - Started in 1811 in some areas, but all areas in the country were required to do this starting in 1841, and they were completed every 10 years.

Birth Records.

Banns of Marriage, and Marriage Certificates

Death Certificates

Wills and Probate Records

Bishops Transcripts

Parish workhouse records

Prisons

News papers

Local tithe maps and general maps of the area researching as well as old photos.

Also another to look is the family crest, this proved very useful on investigations we have done and also look into the meaning of your surname, as it can give you the area and the origin of your name.

http://www.heraldry.co.uk/

There is a book which I would recommend which is by Kathy Chater called Tracing your Family Tree, which has some really useful tips.

Also another tip I would advise is visit the local church in the area your family lived, and have a look around the head stones, I was amazed when I visited one church on my quest just how many names and dates I got from this, which I managed to tie in with my family tree.

The key to all this is patience, and be prepared that all may not be as it seems within your family history, and a few surprises may turn up. As did in mine when I found the most fantastic details of a great great, great uncle who had been sent to prison for stealing two candle sticks and a lid off a kettle, but who are we to judge, as we have to remember life was very different in those days.

But with patience this can be a really enjoyable past time, and bring you many hours of pleasure.